Savage Winds by R.J. Merle - Guest Blog and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops in the tour.



Author R.J. Merle’s Fascination with Technology

In the Children of the Elements Series due to Top Secret technological advances, a cluster of children within the East Tennessee Mountains develop psychic powers.

Imagine a world a world without cell phones, one in which typing speed out raced existing computer software, and there were a few channels on television, and no home internet access…

All of those tech features have manifested in the last few decades.

To think we’ve advanced so far that in a waiting room people communicate via texts with people hundreds, even thousands, of miles away…

Thus, how could one not be fascinated with the advances of technology?

Taking this fascination with technology and weaving it into a Science Fiction Adventure and depicting potential negative consequences of the use of such supposed technological advances turned out to be a fun and rewarding experience.

Children of the Elements, A Secret City Science Fiction Adventure Series features such fictional—or are they?—advances.

Five full novels, one huge story.

When nature refuses to be controlled, can mankind endure? Brainwaves altered by a covert government project based out of the Secret City of Oak Ridge, the Children of the Elements are brought together and tested as weapons of mass destruction. Their struggle to free themselves and survive in the hostile East Tennessee Mountains creates massive chaos and threatens to bring about an apocalypse.

Savage Winds, the first book in the series, shares the story of a little girl able to direct the wind with her wind play, and features the technique of presenting extraordinary features in a normal, every-day world. The children live in the East Tennessee Mountains and their psychic gifts are a part of their daily lives. Also, techno-geek Stedford Thackett, an eighteen-year-old whose story spans all five books, with his awkwardness and clumsiness tends to ground the story more deeply in reality.

Even in fiction where the worlds are fantastical, there tends to be normal aspects of the characters that are endearing and relatable to the reader, so that the fantasy characteristics of the story tend to be accepted as real and plausible.

Basically, blending the implausible, as seamlessly as possible, within the plausible assists in presenting more believable story aspects and presents the story happenings as plausible when crafting Fantasy fiction.

Savage Winds (Children of the Elements, A Secret City Science Fiction Adventure Series, Book 1)

A dangerous conspiracy unfolds...

In Author R.J. Merle’s whirlwind start of the Children of the Elements series, a clumsy teenage techno-geek struggles to protect kidnapped children from a covert government organization responsible for creating their abilities to control the five elements. A mighty wind…

Eighteen-year-old Stedford Thackett’s conspiracy theorist brother ensnares him in a real life children-as-weapons plot, while a determined scientist grooms happy-go-lucky five-year-old Darcie Lynn Carpenter to use the wind as a deadly weapon.

Out of control...

Despite the firm hand of Scientist Nora Hicks, Stedford struggles to rescue the kids and escape, even as Darcie Lynn fights to gain control of the surging power of the savage winds.

A Word-o-Gram for the series would include descriptions to include Psychic Powers, Telekinesis, Apocalypse, Electro-Magnetic Pulse, Zombies, and Mutants.

Enjoy an excerpt:

Dead men don’t tell tales, yet the late project head’s records held revelations kept from Scientist Nora Hicks for far too long.

In an office deep inside an East Tennessee mountain, Nora snapped a black leather-bound book closed.

Except for the carved stone ceiling, the office mimicked a non-descript working office in Anywhere, USA. Bulky military-issue metal and wood furniture stood as a harsh legacy to the covert Secret City project and to the starkness of her life.

Sitting at the borrowed hulk of a desk in a dank underground office, she asked, “Why was this kept from me?”

Across the desk in a guest chair, General Gardner, with thin hair sprouts sprayed into place, said, “Ever since Oak Ridge existed but did not even appear on a map, the city continues to hold and foster more than its share of secrets. As a trusted senior scientist and manager of the project, Dickenson claimed you and your son were the only ones involved.”

“How long have you known there were more of us?” Her grip on the desk’s metal edge forced her gloved hands to stop shaking. The usual underground chill pressed into the heat of her temples and an off-putting tartness oozed over her tongue.

Were Scientist Daniel Dickenson not already dead, she would kill him with her bare hands.

Slowly.

About the Author:

Author R.J. Merle stepped out of the realm of Top-Secret documents (shh, don’t tell…) to write sci-fi and paranormal fiction.

R.J. survived and escaped both the entertainment field and the government-contracting environment, craves the Walking Dead, and entertains what-if tidbits about “supposed” technological and biological advances.

No stranger to the goings on in the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, R.J. Merle blends a down-home flavor with a former in-the-know—hypothetically, of course—technical background to craft the twists and intrigue of Secret City Adventures.

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/R.J.-Merle/e/B00P8E0X5A
BN Author Page: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/r.j.-merle
Website: http://www.rjmerle.com/COTE.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/RJ-Merle-Author/1409155235976147
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10944948.R_J_Merle
Blog: http://rjmerle.blogspot.com/

NOTE: Savage Winds is on sale for $0.99!

Buy the book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Smashwords.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jason Helford -- Interview and Short Story

It's Raining Books would like to introduce Jason Helford, whose debut novel From a Killer's Mind was released earlier this year. He was brave enough to stop by and answer a few of our questions AND he has also sent a short story for your reading enjoyment!

Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I actually consider myself a mixed-genre author. My ideas, as you will see when my other books are published, are varied, and are hard to truly pigeon-hole into any one genre. The most important thing to me is a successful story and narrative, which may require genre elements from a number of sources. From a Killer’s Mind is a mix of Horror, Psychological Thriller, Science Fiction and Urban Fantasy. I’m drawn to odd ideas, and I like figuring out what aspects of different genres will properly support these weird ideas. For instance, my next novel draws on some aspects of old Greek Mythology and fiction relating to questing heroes and how they are poked and prodded through their journey, and I also had to reverse some of those elements to make the story pop, and work for the reader. Ideally, I’d like to produce original and new works, which, in my mind, requires a cobbling together of the old into an interesting new whole.

What research (or world building—for fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi) is required?

That is dependent on the book I am writing. From a Killer’s Mind required some delving into the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in order to pick the group of mental issues and traumas that would make my main character, John, work. It also helped me choose and develop my other characters, which are closely tied with John’s mental state The next book, which I will release in a few months, required some research of Greek Myths and stories. The book I am currently writing has required a lot of research on earth sciences, the brain and the notion of future tech.
,br> Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.
,br> There is no hero in this story, but I learned how to truly write without judging from my main character, John. It is a common refrain for learning writers, but until you come up with an extreme case of it, the notion can remain nebulous and hard to really understand. Some scenes were quite gruesome, and I actually had to step away from the keyboard and take a few deep breaths, but I made sure that my language was not accusatory or judging, and that I allowed the scene to play out as it had to, with no narrative commentary. I also wanted to engender some confusing sympathy in the reader, so that they would start to understand this horrible character they were reading. Two of the themes I overlaid in this novel are that even those deserving of harsh justice are deserving of some understanding, and that the worst criminals often started out as victims: neither one of those themes would have worked if I was judging my main character. I also learned that I really don’t like being in the head of a serial killer. Wee bit dark.

Any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

When I’ve finished one novel, I like to take a month or so to let the next book idea speak to me. I have the ideas for most of the novels I am going to write already worked out, but the specifics—the significant details that will make my story really pop—are things that hit me at random moments when I’m suddenly inspired. I don’t know if that is odd, but I will sometimes just be talking to a friend, say one small thing, and suddenly a couple dozen notes will just hit me and a whole section of the book just fleshes out. My Dad is a table-knocking God-forbidder, so I definitely have some mild superstitions, but nothing too weird or quirky. At least that is what I like to tell myself. Knocks on wood.

Plotter or Pantser?
,br> I am a plotter for all of the details, thematic overlays, and general tone and scope of each chapter, but I am a pantser for dialogue and certain characters that I want to be quirky. I like organic dialogue, and I find I get there best when I have a general idea of where I’d like a conversation to go, but I let the characters talk for themselves, so to speak. I should have probably put this in as a quirk in the question above, but I let the story play out like a movie in my mind, and describe what is happening, letting the odd characters kind of flesh themselves out and take the conversations where that type of character likes to go. So, the answer to your question is “yes.”

Look to your right—what is sitting there?

My dog Sunset. She is a Brittany, and she thinks she is a person and I am both a pillow and vending machine. Anything new coming up from you? What?

My next book, Written in Hell, will be out in the next few months. It is about a mediocre writer who failed in life, but is huge in Hell, and was given an invitation he could not refuse. The story follows him through his travels and travails in Hell. I believe that it is a new and non-clichéd take on Hell, and just a really bizarre, fun story. I have another untitled work that I am just beginning to write that is an apocalyptic story set in the future, interspersed with some themes of hope. I’ll be mixing up narrative voice and person to actually drive the plot, trying to create an interesting structure to the story. I plan to stay busy.

Do you have a question for our readers?

Can you dig it?

While you, dear reader, are thinking how to answer Jason's question, enjoy this promotional short story:

“Oh, yes, yes, yes,” said the grizzled, little man, patting a spot next to him on the bench he was sitting on, just outside of the light cast from the basement window. “Sit, sit, I have a book to tell you about. A book about the best of us. Yes, yes, yes, the best, the very best…”

His voice trailed off as he twitched and glanced around the dim room, seemingly looking everywhere at once. Every time the thin, feeble rays of the waning sun shining through the basement window caught his face, the man’s eyes glinted like a predator staring out from the edge of the dark, his lined countenance fierce and mercurial. The rhythmic pat-pat-pat of his hand sounded hurried and impatient on the old wood, thumping out an anxious rhythm. His clothes showed wear, riddled with holes and frayed threads. The threads stuck out to make his outline look indistinct and animalistic in the shadowed basement.

“John was the best of us. Yes, yes, undeniable,” he muttered quickly, his words coming so fast that they melded into a long, nervous sound. “His numbers were undeniable, and once the book, From a Killer’s Mind, came out, we learned his techniques. His care. His love…love…loved what he did, yes, yes! Did it alone, though? I don’t know. The book makes excuses, tells tales, but John is larger than any one man’s jealousy. You read it and decide. I know I’m alone…mostly. Mostly alone, alone alone…until I’m not…”

He cackled and jumped off of his seat, and rummaged through some boxes and loose items lying around in piles, his bare feet slapping on the basement floor. He grabbed what looked to be a hairy bit of leather from a small box in a low shelf under the window, causing a waft of stale, faintly rotten-smelling air to enter the room with it. His hands were a blur, petting and stroking the thing, turning it over in his hands again and again as he talked and fidgeted while staring out the window.

“John’s story is my story. I want his story. Mine,” muttered the man, looking back from the window with intensity in his eyes. “His Mama and Papa, they loved him fiercely. All his little friends, too. They had to love him to help him in the end. The sweet end. You don’t think I can take as many as him?! I’m careful, too! I like to keep my friends, too! See!”

The little man ran around the room, pushing and pulling odd sacks hanging from the ceiling sporadically throughout the basement, causing the chains they were hanging from to squeal on their rusty hooks. They looked like punching bags, but whenever he hit them, sending them swinging to and fro, they sloshed and splashed like half-filled water bladders. He picked up a screwdriver from a table in the corner and punched a hole in one bag, laughing and running faster as the room filled with a putrid stench and the sound of a thick, gelatinous stream splashing on the floor.

“John killed, but so do I,” yelled the wide-eyed man, pushing the bags back and forth like some sick child’s game. “He had his techniques, but so do I! So do I. Good book, I learned a lot, but he’s the best. The best. I want to be the…”

Suddenly, he stopped, and ran to the window. His face lit up as he peered into the lengthening afternoon shadows to see a young man walking alone between his house and the forest, carrying a basketball.

“Ahhhh, I see you,” he whispered with a grinning snarl, tapping on the window until the young man stopped, looked, and began to cautiously walk over to the window to investigate the sound. “I seeeeee youuuuuuuuu…”

“Shhhhhh!” he snapped as he dipped lower in the windowsill, looking back into the room and holding up his hand. “You will scare him away. Mine. Mine. Need to catch up to John. And I will. I will. In time. Buy the book! From a Killer’s Mind. You will learn. Enjoy John. Now go!”

About the Author:

Jason Helford is a first time author, having recently published his debut novel, From a Killer’s Mind, in July of 2013. He’s a devoted husband and father, an avid comic book collector and an enthusiastic craft beer drinker. Prizing originality and creativity more than anything else, his favorite authors are Hunter S. Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk, Ray Bradbury, Terry Brooks, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Robert Asprin and Albert Camus. Please don’t be offended if you are an author and your name wasn’t mentioned, he probably likes you, too. He lives in Maryland with his wife, Bella, his daughter, Maddie, and his goofy dog, Sunset.

John has been a successful serial killer for his entire adult life, committed to his craft without detection or disruption. He’s spent years perfecting his process and meticulously planning out each kill, honing his abilities to horrible heights; however, when one kill doesn’t go as planned, his confidence is shattered, and his dark life starts down an even darker road, to either his salvation…or his ultimate downfall. John finds his private sanctum infiltrated by chaotic characters from the most unlikely of places, putting him through an existential crisis of the soul. As John loses control, his true crucible begins.

From a Killer’s Mind, the debut novel of writer Jason Helford, is a mind-bending, scary, and emotionally honest trip through the life of a serial killer, laying bare the killer’s soul for all readers to see. The remarkable twist at the core of this novel is something that will leave you open-mouthed, shocked, and completely hooked, until the very last page.

Buy the book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Kobo, or Diesel. For iBooks, search for "From a Killer's Mind" in the iBookstore.

Sleep Stalker by Patrick Royal - Virtual Tour and Giveaway

Today author Patrick Royal visits on his tour with Goddess Fish Promotions for the horror novel, "Sleep Stalker".

Patrick will be awarding a $10.00 Wild Child Publishing gift certificate to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, so leave a comment and you're entered to win!

Thanks to Patrick for answering my prying questions.

Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I was introduced to horror at a young age. My older brothers would take me to the outdoor theaters on the weekend. I’ve been hooked ever since. Horror gets my blood pumping.

What research is required?

Even though fiction is made-up, there’s still a good amount of realness required, especially if you’re writing about a certain area or subject that a reader is familiar with. Believe me; you don’t want to come off not knowing what you’re writing about.

Name one thing you learned from your hero.

To always keep an open mind.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

Yes, my environment has to be quiet. Sometimes I will listen to a horror movie as I write; keeps the atmosphere dark and twisted.

Are you a plotter or pantser?

Plotter

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

A bookshelf filled with Stephen King’s, James Patterson’s, Clive Barker’s works.

Anything new coming up from you? What?

Yes, Mind Shadows I: SHATTERED

Do you have a question for our readers?

What horror novel would they like to see me write?

Sleep Stalker takes you into the lives of a group of people that are experiencing nightmares; however, they are a bit more than just bad dreams. After numerous reports of an outbreak of nightmares, unexplainable deaths begin to occur. Then three decades later, it happens again. There is speculation that the deaths are at the hands of a demon.

Now enjoy an excerpt:

In Hobart, Indiana, Joshua Fairchild awakened and sliced the air with a blood-curdling scream. Sitting up in bed with wide eyes and beads of sweat blanketing his forehead, he stared blankly as his dream quickly left him.

Joshua’s mom, Margret, pushed his bedroom door inward, and rushed inside. “Joshua,” she said panting, “Was that you screaming? Are you having another nightmare?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t remember any of it, except for a cawing crow.” He took a deep breath, looked down, and stared at the lime green stripes on his sheets.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack,” his mom said with her hand on her chest. “I told you watching those monster movies wasn’t good for you.” She took her own deep breath. “Well, it’s time to get up if you’re going to make the parade.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot today was the Fourth of July.” He smiled and pumped his fist. “Oh, boy! I love the parade.”

“Get a move on so we can get a good spot. It’s already a little after nine,” his mom said. When she left she closed the door behind her.

Joshua didn’t waste any time getting dressed and meeting his mom outside by the station wagon, not only a station wagon, but a 1957 Ford station wagon; a hand-me-down to his mom from her father.

Patrick Royal is a family man. Born in Virginia, raised in Northwest Indiana, and he and his wife Lynette have resided in Western Kentucky for seven years. An avid watcher of Horror movies and reader of Stephen King. He's inspired to use the gift God gave him to chill his readers. He is also the author of Novels "Jacobs Closet", and "Sleep Stalker".

WEB SITES:

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/#!/HorrorAuthor.RoyPatten

MY WEB SITE: http://roypatten.webs.com

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/patrickroyal46

PINTEREST: http://pinterest.com/patrickroyal

AUTHORSDEN: http://www.authorsden.com/patrickroyal

BUY SITES:

www.wildchildpublishing.com

www.amazon.com

www.barnesandnoble.com

www.kobo.com

Halo of the Damned by Dina Rae - Review tour and giveaway

(Full length paranormal horror)

This review is done in conjunction with the author's virtual tour with Goddess Fish Promotions.

Dina is awarding one random commenter a new peacock jeweled necklace, so comment today AND follow the tour (if you click on the tour banner above, it'll take you to a list of her tour stops) -- the more you read and comment, the better your odds of winning. You could be introduced to a great new author AND win an awesome prize!



A chain of advertising agencies, a new breed of humans, and a fallen angel to worship...

Andel Talistokov is known for his slick advertising agencies across the globe. He is a fallen angel that uses advertising as a weapon for Satan's work. His growing power emboldens him to break several of Hell's Commandments. Furious with his arrogance, Satan commands him to return to Hell after finding his own replacement. Yezidism, an ancient angel worshiping religion, quietly expands throughout the West. Armaros appears as a guest of honor during their ceremonies. He mates with young women to produce nephilim, a mixed race of humans and angels. They are alone and unprepared for their supernatural power. Joanna Easterhouse, a recovering drug addict, steps out of prison shortly after her mother's fatal accident. She and her sister, Kim, unravel their mother's secretive past. Intrigued, they learn their bloodline is part of a celestial legacy. Both worlds collide. Halo of the Damned is a horrifying tale that weaves research together with suspenseful twists and turns.




Dina Rae takes the reader into a dark corner of the supernatural world-- the world of demons and nephilim. Andel Talistokov, one of the fallen angels who were thrown out of heaven when Satan rebelled against God, is taking a page out of Satan's book and wants to be worshipped instead of God ... or Satan. Joanna Easterhouse and her family discover they come from a long line of celestial beings who stand against the evil that Andel embodies.

The actions in this book start off dark and graphic--Andel kills his assistant, then partially devours her, and then we discover she was his daughter. And now we are completely aware at this point that his evil knows no bounds.

Dina Rae has a vast imagination and a way with words.  Her descriptions are clear and vivid (sometimes almost too much so).  If you have a weak stomach, this is definitely not the book for you. However, if you like a fast moving story --one that will keep you on the edge of your seat-- and enjoy being scared, give Halo of the Damned a try. One word of advice, however: don't read it late at night.

3.5 Flowers - This was a good book. I liked it.

The next day, Kim packed up her own drawing of her mother’s carved wall, the scroll, and the piece of metal. Her excitement put her in a giddy mood. Once she was parked and in front of Loyola’s entrance, Sandra met her in the foyer and escorted her back to the Arts and Science College. Sandra took Kim to their lounge and introduced her to six other professors who were equally interested in seeing her finds. All of them specialized in fields that had to do with the ancient world.

Kim began with unveiling her own copy of the symbols she drew from her mother’s basement. “I appreciate all of your attention. Can anyone tell me what this is, and even possibly what it means? Each symbol was copied down in the order it was etched into the wall,” Kim said.

One professor immediately took the paper and made a copy. This made Kim uncomfortable. He asked, “Where did you find this?”

“Again, none of that matters,” Kim defensively repeated. Her daughter’s omen chimed throughout her brain. The man intuitively put up her defenses.

“Doctor Nrogbi’s English is somewhat limited. He’s not trying to be pushy or rude,” Sandra explained.

“This is Angelic script, also known as Adonite language, alphabet of the Ark, or even Enochian. It’s the first written language of this world. Angels used it to communicate with God. The first humans also used it before the Fall,” Doctor Nrogbi lectured.

“Before what fall?” Kim asked, very confused. How could Maria have known all of this?

“Before Adam and Eve sinned. Before they were kicked out of Eden. It pre-dates Hebrew, Sanskrit, Aramaic, and other ancient languages. It’s very sophisticated and difficult to translate. These symbols look like a key, invocation, or lyric. Let me get something off my bookshelf.”

While the doctor frantically flipped through several of his books, other professors rattled off bits and pieces of their own views concerning the script. Kim learned that Enoch didn’t name the language, but his name was chosen for it thousands of years later because of his communications inside of Heaven.

The professors spoke of John Dee, a famous mathematician, cartographer, and seer of Queen Elizabeth I. He had a revelation about angelic script and later recorded it. Sir Edward Kelley, his colleague, also witnessed the revelation and recorded additional symbols called Keys or Calls. Their legitimacy had been debated for centuries.

“Ah, I found it. What you have here is a Key. Angel script is read left to right. These symbols together are sort of like a prayer. A rough translation in English means, ‘Forever fallen is forever damned, until one can unlock from within.’ I wish I knew where you found this. The context would help cypher the meaning,” Doctor Nrogbi stated.

“Anyone have an inkling to what the passage could mean?” Kim asked.

“I can only guess that fallen is either man, as in Adam…or possibly angels, as in the Fallen that waged war with Satan against God. He and all his angels were cast down and forever damned. However, there is a loophole suggested-‘unlock from within.’ Don’t know, just a guess,” answered Doctor Barry Lowenstein, an ancient comparative literature professor.

“Kim, you said you had a few more items to show us. Can we see? The anticipation is gnawing away at all of us!” Sandra exclaimed.

“Okay, I have a scroll that might be of some interest,” Kim answered as she gingerly took it out of her purse and laid it down on a long table. All the professors’ jaws dropped in astonishment. They all hovered over the scroll, whispering theories of what it might be. Doctor Nrogbi quickly grabbed his cell phone and began taking photos. The rest of the professors followed suit.

“Tanned animal hide, probably lamb or ram, of the highest quality for ancient times. This must be dated as far back as 500 B.C., maybe even a 1000 B.C. We need to carbon-date this. It’s in perfect condition. What was this stored in?” Doctor Lowenstein questioned.

“It came in a box. I didn’t bring it with me,” Kim replied, feeling suffocated and wanting to leave.

“We could use a combination of steam and chemicals to remove the seal so that it doesn’t break. That way we could read the scroll. Can you leave this with Sandra for the next couple of days?” asked Doctor Litner, an art history professor and expert in document preservation.

Can you bring in the box? Can you take us to where this was found? Can you leave this for display? Can we take this to the Smithsonian? Can you, Can you, Can you...Kim’s head was about to explode. She wasn’t about to disclose the ornate metal she still had in her purse.

“I’ll call Sandra and we can do this another time. Thank you all for your help,” Kim abruptly announced. She packed up her things and rushed out of the university. Not paying attention, she almost got hit by a car. Once in her Lincoln Navigator, she calmed down. Rush hour traffic on the Eisenhower Expressway gave her time to process.

Dina Rae is a new author here to stay. As a teacher, she brings an academic element to her work. Her three novels, Halo of the Damned, The Last Degree, and Bad Juju weave research and suspense throughout the plots. Her short story, Be Paranoid Be Prepared, is a prequel of sorts to The Last Degree, focusing on the James Martin character. In the spring of 2013, her latest novel, Halo of the Nephilim, will be released. Dina also freelances for various entertainment blogs.

Dina lives with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs outside of Chicago. She is a Christian, an avid tennis player, movie buff, and self-proclaimed expert on several conspiracy theories. She has been interviewed numerous times in e-zines, websites, blogs, newspapers, and radio programs. When she is not writing she is reading novels from her favorite authors Dan Brown, Anne Rice, Stephen King, Brad Thor, George R.R. Martin, and Preston & Childs.

http://dinarae.co
www.dinaraeswritestuff.blogspot.com
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dinaraebooks/
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/DinaRaeBooks
@haloofthedamned
Eternalpress.biz

Steel Rose by Barbara Custer - Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway

Today we're visiting with author Barbara Custer on her tour with Goddess Fish Promotions for the Sci-Fi Horror novel, "Steel Rose".

Barbara will award one randomly drawn commenter at every stop a backlist eBook – it could be City of Brotherly Death, Twilight Healer, or one of her Night to Dawn magazines, and one randomly drawn commenter on the tour will receive a $15.00 gift certificate to Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks, winner's choice, so comment today AND follow her tour (if you click on the banner above, it'll take you to a list of her tour stops)! The more you read and comment, the better your odds of winning. You could be introduced to a great new author AND win a really cool prize!

Barbara was brave enough to share five things about herself we might not know. Let's get the ball rolling ...

Five Things You’d Never Guess about Barbara

People who’ve read about me know about my balloon hobby, fear of skeletons, and love for horror and science fiction genres. Tonight, I’ve decided to share five things that might surprise you.

1. Let’s start with identity – before I married, my last name was Citeroni. I am 100 percent Italian descent, but most people find that hard to believe because of my fair skin. I don’t know any Italian but I can cook and bake some great recipes. I’ve learned them from the best cook—my mother.

2. Before I had the joint reconstruction surgery in my hands, I used to enjoy deep-sea fishing with Mike and my brother. I’d gotten pretty good at baiting my own hook and catching flounder and sea bass. Alas, I did have my bouts with seasickness. All up, I had a great time on the boat.

3.  A confession: When it comes to coffee, I have expensive taste. I buy all my coffee from the Ocean City Coffee Company. Why Ocean City? On our last pleasure trip, Mike and I visited Ocean City, NJ, and we bought coffee at their store. They really know how to package flavored coffee. I’ve tried cheaper brands, but didn’t like the taste. When I go to a restaurant, sometimes I make coffee at home and bring a thermos of it with me.

4. When I was in high school, I thrived on Mad magazine. I continued reading Mad through my twenties, and people around me scolded me for not taking an interest in literary subjects. A fellow I dated tried to get me interested into what he called “good” literature. This didn’t happen, and my “unsophisticated” tastes were part of the reason we broke up. Well…if these people could see me now.

5. A lot of writers have superstitions about their work, and I’m no different. If I start a new project, I won’t discuss it with anyone, lest talking about it too much depletes my motivation to write. For example, I’ve been working on a prequel for Steel Rose, but I don’t feel ready to talk about it yet. If I get a “maybe” letter from a publisher, etc, as in a request to send the manuscript, I’ll keep it under wraps until I know the outcome. Revealing too much too soon might jinx it. My best writing happens when I’ve put laundry into the dryer. Maybe the noise from the dryer soothes my muse. Whatever the reason, it works.

Sometimes they come back. At least the Kryszka aliens do. Their leader injects captured humans with a drug, turning them into zombies. Yeron escapes the Kryszka colony, hoping to practice medicine on the humans that fear him. Alexis, a patient, is afraid, too, until his seductive attentions arouse her. Despite his experimental drug, severe arthritis leaves her too weak to handle most guns. The Kryszka troops and zombies who break into the hospital are hungry. Very hungry. How will she fight them?

Excerpt:

Silence. Her splints flashed white against the gloom. The footsteps started again, outside the window. Kneeling beside her mother’s bed, she shone her light toward the window. A tunic-clad woman stood outside, silhouetted against the moonlit night. The flashlight kicked too much reflection off the windows to see her face, but the intruder was too short and thin to be Laurel.

The footsteps stopped. The glass shivered. Alexis could hear so much now: the quivering window, the house creaking the way her joints did in the early morning, Robin’s soft weeping from the living room.

She gazed into the ominous night and then the window shattered inward, showering the bed and Alexis with glass slivers. A look up close and personal revealed the intruder’s fiery red eyes, needle-sharp teeth, and crooked snarl of hate. No, not hate...hunger.

“Oh, my God!” she hollered, and her cry betrayed her. Her ankle buckled when she tried to stand and run. She dropped her knife. The Kryszka grabbed her arm and flung her onto the bed.

She groped for the screwdriver and cried out at the glass slicing her right hand. Her back and neck hurt worse. The Kryszka withdrew a cylindrical device with her free hand. It looked like a plasma gun, the weapon that Steve had described. Its power would dwarf Alexis’s piece-of-shit weapon.

Hot stabbing ripped through Alexis’s spine. Something–an invisible force perhaps–rubbed her against the broken glass on the bed. This monster was dragging out the torture before killing her. Her right hand closed around her screwdriver. Despite the razor blades of agony slashing through her wrist, she pointed its tapered bit toward the Kryszka’s face. The creature was too busy drooling over her shoulder and neck to notice. Eyes rolled back and teeth gaping, the Kryszka angled for her right shoulder. Alexis sank the screwdriver into the creature’s left eye, slick as goose shit.

Barbara lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she works full time as a respiratory therapist. When she’s not working with her patients, she’s enjoying a fright flick or working on horror and science fiction tales. Her short stories have appeared in numerous small press magazines. She’s published Night to Dawn magazine since 2004.

Other books by Barbara include Twilight Healer and City of Brotherly Death. She’s also coauthored Alien Worlds and Starship Invasions with Tom Johnson. She enjoys bringing her medical background to the printed page, and then blending it with supernatural horror. She maintains a presence on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and The Writers Coffeehouse forum. Look for the photos with the Mylar balloons, and you’ll find her.

To contact her, e-mail her at barbaracuster@hotmail.com.

Visit her at:

www.bloodredshadow.com
www.facebook.com/barbara.custer
www.linkedin.com/pub/barbara-custer/10/aa9/bba
https://twitter.com/NighttoDawn1

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Steel-Rose-ebook/dp/B00BA4JMJK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361148090&sr=8-1&keywords=steel+rose+barbara+custer

BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/steel-rose-barbara-custer/1114520237?ean=9781615728534

Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time by S. R. Howen - Virtual Tour and Giveaway

Today we're visiting with author S. R. Howen on her tour with Goddess Fish Promotions for the paranormal horror story with romantic elements, "Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time".

The author will award a $10 GC to Wild Child Publishing to one randomly drawn commenter during her tour, so comment today AND follow her tour (if you click on the banner above, it'll take you to a list of her tour stops)! The more you read and comment, the better your odds of winning. You could be introduced to a great new author AND win a really cool prize!

Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I never really chose a genre to write in. When I had an agent, he asked me what genre I would place my book in. I had to think on that. When I write a story I don’t start out thinking, oh, this is romance, or mystery, or horror. The story dictates what it wants to be. Maybe my muse knows, but they don’t let me know until the first evil spirit shows up, or we make the leap to hyper drive, or we tumble through time.

For me the draw to writing is the discovery of the story. But my favorite genres are the ones that contain an air of mysticism and the spirit world. The ones that explore the deeper, darker recesses of the human soul.

What research (or world-building) is required?

It doesn’t matter what genre you write in, you build a world. Even if the story takes place on main street, small town America, you build the world around your characters. Research is the backbone to creating a realistic story. Even if I lived on main street in small town America, I would make sure I knew the streets and the settings of the story in detail. Get the facts right and make the reader feel as if they have stepped on board the space ship, or into the bank of a small town and you have won the reader over and will kee them interested, while one wrong fact can have them tossing the book.

Name one thing you learned from your hero.

In the case of Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time, the Main character Shannon Running Deer is drawn into his past and the prehistoric past of his people. He has to come to terms with his past in order to save the future. While nothing so dramatic and all encompassing, I think I did come to the realization that we are all products of our parents and grandparents no matter how much we fight that as teens and adults. There comes a day when we look in the mirror and go, wow, I am like my (insert your greatest influence here). Like my hero in Medicine Man I I let go of the idea that I had ot be what other thought I should be an embraced who I am and who my past made me into.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

Every story I write has its own soundtrack. Most times I start out with one song and build from there. I have no idea if the music dictates the story, or if the story calls for the music. Since I work on a number of things at once, all I have to do is put the track on and I sink into the world of that story.

I also wear noise canceling ear buds so I don’t hear anything other than the soundtrack. We have a door bell that would wake the dead, can’t even hear that. I have ot have a cup of pens and a stack of index cards, though I have not used them in years, I twitch and can’t write if they are not there at least when I am writing at home.  If I'm out with the laptop it doesn’t seem to matter. I can leave the music or the pens, but at home I need those things.

Are you a plotter or pantser?

Pantser. That term to me is odd, feels like it’s a bad thing. Oh, you just fly by the seat of your pants and hope it turns out? I prefer the term "organic". This is such a huge thing among writers, a gigantic source of debate. As I stated above I have no idea where a story is going, or who the characters are, or event he genre when I sit down to write, I often have a name, (or the main character), a song, and maybe a location and that’s it when I start. Do I stall out on stories? Heck no. In 40 years of writing, I’ve only stalled on one story, lost interest and quit. It was my first mystery and I thought I had to plot it out—it didn’t work. My muse said blah we have already told the story move on and he ran away. (Yes, I see my muse as being male) .

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

Buddy, the raccoon. Seriously. I have a wildlife rescue and rehab. LOL

Anything new coming up from you? What?

Upcoming I have a traditional fantasy romance, a very different story from Medicine Man I. And of course the second book in the Medicine Man series, Raven. I’ve also written an erotic-romance/mystery that I am looking for an agent for.

Do you have a question for our readers?

Have you gotten your copy of Medicine Man I yet?

Shannon Running Deer is American Indian by blood, he has forsaken his people's ancient ways to embrace the "modern" world as a wealthy, highly successful trauma surgeon.

His comfortable existence begins to unravel when, seemingly by chance, Shannon finds himself gradually drawn into the past. Pursued by an ancient evil, he knows he can change the future, if he can survive the past.

In the tradition of Diana Gabaldon, S.R. Howen's MEDICINE MAN is a distinctive and atmospheric novel full of spirituality, mystical time travel, passion, and suspense.

The teapot shrilled, and Morning Dove’s voice came from the doorway. “I am very tired.”

I took a mug from the shelf above the sink. From a different cupboard, I took down the box of nighttime tea I kept there. I added water and tea to the mug and watched the steam for a moment, before I held it out to her.

“It will help you sleep,” I said when she just looked at the cup.

“I have had enough white-man’s medicines put into me already.” Her eyes flashed with what I took for humor.

“This is a mixture of natural herbs, no preservatives, no artificial colorings, no caffeine. . . ”

With a smile, she took the cup. Her fingers brushed against mine, sending an electric chill along my nerves. I led the way to my study and turned on the gas fireplace. Morning Dove went to the thick sheepskin rug in front of it and sat down. While she sipped the tea, I went to the closet and retrieved a pillow and some blankets. I paused with them in hand to watch her. She sat in the terry robe and held the mug in both hands. She took a small sip and stared into the fire.

Her hair hung down over the robes back in a glimmering wet curtain. One corner of the robe slipped down to reveal her shoulder. I wanted to sink to the floor and wrap myself around her. With a grunt, I pulled myself away from thoughts of intimacy with her. I covered the couch with a sheet and punched the pillow a few times--to fluff it.

The gate buzzer sounded loudly in the silent room. What nut would be out on a night like this unless they had to be? I pulled the door to the study shut and went to answer the gate intercom.

No one answered. When I turned away from it, thinking the storm had made it go off, it buzzed again. Loud and insistent. I jabbed the button.

“Who’s there?”

I heard nothing in return except the thunder rumbling overhead. I pulled open the front door. Down the drive, through the sheets of rain, it looked like a set of round headlights on the other side of the gate. My brother’s Jeep?

I reached back inside and pushed the button to open the gate.

Lightening cracked so bright I couldn’t see for a moment. I blinked back the brightness, tried to blink it away again.

It didn’t help. The deer filling my driveway didn’t go away. They ran past the house in a steady stream, an entire herd. Where had they come from? The drums sounded behind me.

For more than 12 years, S.R. Howen has been an editor at Wild Child Publishing and Freya’s Bower. She also runs workshops on how to craft a winning synopsis and query letter. Over the last few months S.R. Howen has been working on Medicne Man 2: Raven, as well as a second Forge book for Freya's Bower under the pen name Shaunna Wolf. She is also working on an epic fantasy series of books, and a Erotic Romance set in the 1980’s. Under her pen name Vic Ross she is working on a SciFi humor series.

A former military brat, then military spouse, and a traditional naturalist, S.R. Howen currently lives in Texas, with a dozen cats (three of them the non-domestic sort) two squirrles, one raccoon, one dog, and her daughter. She works with wilf life rehab and rescue as well as running a cat shelter and rescue. For more info on her and her works please visit her web site or her facebook page.

Contacts and Buy Links:
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Wild Child Publishing): http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=106&products_id=404
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Amazon Ebook): http://www.amazon.com/The-Chief-Time-Medicine-ebook/dp/B009Z2R3BS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353081294&sr=8-1&keywords=medicine+man+howen
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Amazon Print) : http://www.amazon.com/Medicine-Man-The-Chief-Time/dp/1617980714/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1353081294&sr=8-2&keywords=medicine+man+howen
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (B&N Ebook): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/medicine-man-sr-howen/1113712670?ean=2940015913316
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (B&N Print): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/medicine-man-i-s-r-howen/1113795431?ean=9781617980718
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Kobo ): http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Chief-of-All-Time/book-_hYNNKIra06osXQdjttbtg/page1.html?s=vNIlqpUbIUaJ6gin-i4ZOA&r=1
Blog: Critters at the Keyboard http://srhowen1.blogspot.com/
Author Web page: http://srhowen.wix.com/srhowen-1#!home/mainPage
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/srhowen
Facebook Author’s Page: http://www.facebook.com/srhowen1
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRHowen

Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: Evil Ambulance by Mark Rinker

Today we're welcoming author Mark Rinker to the blog on his tour with Goddess Fish Promotions for his debut novel, a YA horror called "Evil Ambulance".

Mark is giving away a $20 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter. So comment today AND follow his tour (if you click on the banner over there on the left, it'll take you to a list of his tour stops) -- the more you read and comment, the better your odds of winning. You could be introduced to a great new author AND win a GC!

Mark was kind enough to answer my many questions. Thanks, Mark!

Why YA?

Well, my first draft of this novel was not written as a YA book. I wrote the initial version and wasn't happy with it. The story didn't, honestly, make a lot of sense, and was kind of all over the place--but I liked the basic idea and setup, and so came back to it a year or so later. At the time I was re-reading some YA books I'd enjoyed as a kid, specifically the Friday the 13th YA series by Eric Morse, and also checking out some recent YA fiction like the Twilight series and the Hunger Games, and I started considering whether Evil Ambulance might not work as a YA novel. The entire thing changed very much between that original version and the (much better) version that I ended up with. I made the character eighteen instead of twenty-nine, and re-started from there.

Why horror?

I've always loved reading and watching movies, and am a lifelong fan of horror; from my first viewings of Jaws and Halloween when I was very young, to reading Stephen King's masterpiece The Shining at age ten, I've been hooked on the genre.

Where did the idea for this story come from?

I think there's a big shortage of vehicular horror stories out there! Actually, I came up with it while driving. It's not that all that interesting; I saw an ambulance in my rear view mirror and came up with the idea of a demonic, or possessed, ambulance driving around town stirring things up.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I've been writing stories since I was a little kid, but didn't realize that's what I wanted to do until after college. I studied film and video production and found, about two years into my schooling, that I had very little talent as concerned cameras or computers, and got most of my enjoyment out of writing screenplays. I did a few of those, before concluding that I'd be more satisfied writing short stories and novels, rather than screenplays that likely would never be filmed.

Any odd/fun quirks you'd like to share with us?

I don't think there's anything TOO odd! I don't like watching TV without the volume cranked up, and I'm unable to watch Fast Times at Ridgemont High without moving my lips along with each line of dialogue.

What's one thing about you we might never guess?

I'm very interested in animals, particularly smaller ones: chinchillas, hamsters, small dogs. I've loved animals since I was a kid, and have been a vegetarian for about ten years. My chinchilla, Gizmo Giraffe, sits in his cage and watches me while I write.

Are you working on anything new?

I started work on a novel (not YA, or in the horror genre) during the period between the original draft and the revised draft of Evil Ambulance. That one is, at least for the moment, titled The King of Wolves, and is about religion, neuroses, and revenge, and is a pretty dark story. I hope to have a good draft of that completed early in the year. I also have some ideas for Evil Ambulance 2, which I'll likely start on in the next few months.

What's the book about?

Eighteen-year-old Eric Donnelly moves to a small town in Pennsylvania, to live with his uncle, Dan, while his parents finalize their divorce. Dan has recently purchased an old house which sits atop a three-mile hill overlooking the town of Riverwood; a house which is host to the decades-old presence of Victor Devlin, a homicidal ambulance driver responsible for a series of brutal murders years before. Eric soon finds himself alone, as the spirit of the ambulance driver begins to inhabit his uncle’s body, and each night Devlin’s ambulance appears in the driveway, eerily glowing, calling to Eric.

Tell us about you and where we can find you on the 'net.

Mark R. Rinker was born in California, but has spent most of his life in eastern Pennsylvania. His short story, “Dog Mask” was published earlier this year by Dark Gothic Resurrected magazine, and Evil Ambulance is his first novel.

http://www.markrrinker.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/markrrinkerpa
(twitter) @markrrinker